All in a family: third sibling reaches captain's rank

Brendan Kessler, one of three siblings who all are Army captains, waits to receive his new rank from his sister, Capt. Mallory Kessler, in a promotion ceremony April 16 at the operational headquarters of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command, Peterson Air Force Base, Colo.

Brendan Kessler, one of three siblings who all are Army captains, waits to receive his new rank from his sister, Capt. Mallory Kessler, in a promotion ceremony April 16 at the operational headquarters of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command, Peterson Air Force Base, Colo.

Related Links

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- A couple of patterns apply when it comes to the Kessler siblings of Colorado Springs, Colo., and Fort Bragg, N.C.

The three siblings were competitive swimmers. And starting yesterday they are all Army captains. Although that part will change soon enough.

Brendan Kessler received his new rank April 16 from Capt. Mallory Kessler, one of his older sisters, in a promotion ceremony at the operational headquarters of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command at Peterson Air Force Base.

Mallory Kessler works in the Missile Warning Center at Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station west of Colorado Springs. She previously commanded Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Space Brigade, one of the two SMDC brigades.

Their sister, Brittany Weightman, will be of equal rank for another month. Her promotion to major is scheduled to take place at Fort Bragg, where she is assigned with the 82nd Airborne Division.

"We always followed suit in everything we did growing up," Brendan said.

A grandfather and great-uncle are military veterans.

"My great-uncle helped design the Patriot missile," Mallory said. That is why she chose air defense as her branch when she was commissioned. Later, she became a space operations officer, which influenced Brendan.

"He thought it was so cool," she said. Brendan is a graduate of the Space 200 course taught at the National Security Space Institute in Colorado Springs.

The siblings were born at three-year intervals. They did take somewhat different paths in choosing college educations; two attended La Salle University in Philadelphia (Brittany and Mallory) and one attended Xavier University in Cincinnati (Brendan).

In various combinations, the siblings served in pairs at the same time in Iraq and Afghanistan.

After Mallory pulled Brendan's old rank off his Army Combat Uniform and put on the new, Col. Steven Matayoshi administered the oath of office. Matayoshi is the SMDC Reserve Component liaison.

Brendan, a member of the Colorado National Guard, is a mobilization officer in the command's Reserve Affairs Office. He will depart soon for the Special Forces selection course at Fort Bragg.